British retailers lure overseas online browsers April 28, 2014 THE NUMBER of overseas shoppers browsing the web for British clothing and footwear retailers has surged in the past year, with department stores grabbing a greater share of the attention, new figures released today show. Retailers have been pushing ahead with international expansion plans to offset slowing growth and weak consumer spending at home, using [...]
Thai and Malaysians among the UK’s fastest growing shoppers April 28, 2014 WEST END retailers are bracing themselves for a surge in Thai and Malaysian shoppers over the next three months as they escape their hot summer season and come in search of the UK’s cooler climate. Visitors from Thailand and Malaysia were the fastest growing consumers in the UK last year, each spending 51 per cent [...]
Super rich get to cash in on luxury assets April 28, 2014 BRITAIN’S super rich are being given the chance to borrow up to £1m secured against fine wines, vintage cars and private jets under a new asset backed loans company designed to replace the pull back in private bank lending. HNW Lending, which is rolling out its services today, is plotting to give loans of between [...]
Gotham City defends its £1bn Quindell attack April 28, 2014 MYSTERIOUS US short seller Gotham City Research yesterday defended its attack on Quindell, the Aim-listed insurance firm whose shares plummeted 39 per cent last week following a scathing blog post by Gotham, as an “expression of free speech”. On Friday Quindell published a 12,500 word response to Gotham’s allegations, in which vice chairman Tony Bowers [...]
Finance sites competing to run small firms’ loan referral system April 28, 2014 A PAIR of influential groups are competing for the go ahead to run the government’s new referral system for small business loan applications. Chancellor George Osborne wants banks to refer rejected loan applications to other lenders, rather than turing small firms down flat. The National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) has set up a [...]
Watchdog makes US payday lender set up office in the UK April 28, 2014 AMERICAN payday loans group Cash America plans to set up a British office to keep the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) happy, it emerged over the weekend. The firm runs major UK brands including QuickQuid, but has no UK office for the group. The move comes as the City watchdog has this month taken over the [...]
Small firms fear effects of rise in army reservists April 28, 2014 PLANS to reduce troop numbers in the armed forces and replace them with reservists remains a concern for small firms, the Federation of Small Businesses has warned. As part of its defence budget cuts, the government intends to slash 30,000 armed forces personnel by 2020 and hire reservists instead. But industry body the FSB fears [...]
ITV Studios set to push new shows overseas April 28, 2014 ITV STUDIOS, the broadcaster’s production arm, is preparing to go head-to-head with the BBC in a battle for lucrative international sales of its original content. ITV’s Mr Selfridge has been sold to more than 150 countries and now the broadcaster is hoping to follow the success with two more 13-episode series designed to appeal to [...]
Premier spurns a £3bn tie-up April 28, 2014 PREMIER Oil has rejected two takeover offers from Africa-focused Ophir Energy, which would have created a £3bn combined oil and gas explorer. The latest approach, an all-share merger proposal, was unanimously rejected by Premier’s board a fortnight ago, according to The Sunday Times. A deal would have created the fifth largest oil and gas explorer [...]
Mick the Miner in talks to secure further funding for acquisitions April 28, 2014 MICK Davis, the former boss of mining giant Xstrata, is in the process of raising more money through his new venture X2 Resources, mere weeks after raising $3.75bn (£2.25bn) from five institutional investors. X2 is understood to have been approached by a number of new investors, including pension funds and private equity houses, although it [...]
